


the sun is also a star

by hyungsobbing



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Fluff & Angst, M/M, university/college au ish too
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-30
Updated: 2020-09-30
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:01:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26649460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hyungsobbing/pseuds/hyungsobbing
Summary: i can’t promise you very much.the fragile side of love is the only side there is;but i promise i will love you until i stop loving you.and when that happens, i’ll start again.In a world where you can hear your soulmate singing, Hyunjin always has a song in his head. When solo artist Kim Seungmin's single comes out, Hyunjin recognises the tune as the one his soulmate sang months before.
Relationships: Hwang Hyunjin/Kim Seungmin
Comments: 6
Kudos: 201
Collections: EQUINOX





	the sun is also a star

**Author's Note:**

> from the prompt 'in a world where you can hear your soulmate singing, hyunjin always has a song in his head. all he knows about them is that they like his new obsession, solo artist kim seungmin. when seungmin's new single comes out, hyunjin recognises the tune as one his soulmate sang months before.' 
> 
> to the prompter: idk if this is what u wanted , and it's a lil rushed, but i hope you enjoy it anyway!

“Good evening students and fellow insomniacs! This is Bang ‘Call me Chris’ Chan, and I will be hosting tonight’s late late show!”

The streetlights outside flicker, and Hyunjin stares dazedly out of the window. Minho is sleeping soundly on the other side of the room, and Hyunjin wonders what he’d done in his past life to be cursed with the inability to fall asleep at normal human timings. The cursor on the blank document blinks innocuously at him, and he slams the laptop shut.

The digital clock on the wall tells him that it’s three in the morning. His eyes are tired, lids heavy and he wants nothing more than to fall asleep for a very long time, but he knows from years of experience that trying to sleep is futile on bad days like these.

On the radio line, pages rustle and Chan clears his throat. “Today, we have a very special guest—Kim Seungmin, live on our very own radio!”

With a start, Hyunjin’s head slips off his hand and his pen clatters to the ground noisily. He fumbles to turn the volume up, and pushes all his undone assignments and laptop aside to make way for his phone. _Kim Seungmin? Seungmin? On the radio?_

“Seungmin! Would you mind introducing yourself to us?”

Someone clears his throat, and Hyunjin waits, eyes wide and heart racing impossibly fast in his chest. “Hi, I’m Seungmin, singer, songwriter and part-time student. Thanks for inviting me here, by the way!”

Chan laughs. “It’s my pleasure! So, Seungmin, you’ve gathered a decent fan base from releasing covers online, but I heard that you’re releasing your debut single in a month or two? Can you tell us what it’s about?”

Of course Hyunjin has heard about his new single. As any self-respecting, normal fan would, the moment Seungmin had released news of his debut single, he’d scoured Seungmin’s Instagram and Twitter for any spoilers to the single for hours, even searching up old links and websites for hints. Okay, maybe not so self-respecting, but it was normal! On the other end, Seungmin laughs softly, and draws a breath.

“It’s about missing someone that you’ve never met, and it feels like an important part of you is missing—like you don’t know who they are, but you know that you need them and you want to find them.” Seungmin says, and Hyunjin finds himself smiling subconsciously, a warm feeling blooming in his chest.

“So, it’s about someone’s soulmate?” Chan asks, and Seungmin hums in agreement.

“In our current generation, where each soulmate pair is unique and everyone’s red string of fate is manifested differently, how is this song different from all the other songs in the music industry?”

There’s a distinct pause on the line, and Seungmin speaks after a few moments of thoughtful silence. “I’ve always wondered what my other half would be like, and how it would feel like to be with someone who’s perfectly compatible with me. But after a lot of thinking, I don’t think that your soulmate is a person who’s perfect for you, but rather, someone who completes you and makes life worth living, and that’s what my song is about.”

Hyunjin falls asleep to Seungmin’s soothing voice, dreaming of vibrant colours and familiar melodies and a blurry shadow of a person that’s almost in his reach, and when Minho wakes him up the next morning, he wakes up with a smile on his face.

◑

Out of all the compulsory courses Hyunjin was forced to take, Biochem was by far the most boring one, and this is backed up by at least half of the students sleeping during every single lecture. Hyunjin has one earphone plugged in at all times during the lecture, with Seungmin’s covers playing softly in his ears. Changbin lets out a snore, drool drying in tracks next to his mouth, and Hyunjin takes a photo to keep for future blackmail.

He opens iMessage to play Game Pigeon under the table with Minho, and he wins 8-ball pool three times in a row until Minho rage quits. There’s two minutes left in the lecture, and the professor herself looks like she’s about to fall asleep, so he shakes Changbin up.

His friend wakes up with a start, knees banging loudly against the table, causing a few students in their vicinity to look at him. “Biochem’s ending soon,” Hyunjin says over Seungmin’s cover of _Heather_ , and Changbin nods. “What’s your next class?”

“I have to go to the studio in an hour, do you want to grab lunch before that?” Changbin offers, and Hyunjin nods. “I have dance in an hour too.”

They walk out of the lecture hall, bags bumping into each other. Changbin shoves his phone back into his pocket, and looks curiously at Hyunjin’s earphones dangling out of his pocket. “Were you listening to that same singer again?”

“Yeah.”

“What’s his name again?” Changbin kicks the doors open, and the sky overhead is a weird blueish-grey colour, with rain clouds gathering in the distance. Distantly, Hyunjin can hear the lightning alarm is blaring from the campus fields. “Kim Seungmin, he’s about our age.”

“Wait, Kim Seungmin?” Changbin repeats, and Hyunjin raises an eyebrow. “Yes?”

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

“Tell you his name? I’ve told you like ten times—do you just ignore me every time I open my mouth?” Hyunjin rolls his eyes.

Changbin shakes his head, the beginning of a smile appearing at the corners of his lips. “You might hit me if I tell you this.”

“I’ll hit you anyway.”

“Actually—you know what, I won’t tell you.” Changbin says decisively, and Hyunjin actually does hit him on the head, and the smacking sound is weirdly satisfying. “Tell me, you ass!”

“No, this is actually going to be so funny when you find out.” Changbin laughs, because he’s an asshole just like that. “Whatever. I don’t care, anyway.” Hyunjin scoffs.

◑

The moment Hyunjin walks into the dance studio, he’s assaulted. Felix jumps at him and tackles him, and he stumbles back a few steps, but his smile is so radiant that Hyunjin can’t bring himself to be mad at him. “Hyunjin!” Felix near-shouts in his ear, and Hyunjin laughs, because Felix was just that type of person—his happiness was contagious. “What’s up, Lix?”

“We got a slot in the spring festival!” Felix screeches, and Hyunjin stares blankly, and thinks that he’s heard him wrongly at first. “We what?”

“We’re performing for the spring festival.” Minho stands up from adjusting the speakers in the corner. “The! Spring! Festival!” Felix shakes him by the shoulders, and Hyunjin breaks into a huge smile; the Spring Festival was a huge thing for them, and it isn’t only their university that comes together to perform, but also other universities in the area, and the line-up is carefully hand-picked by the committee each year—and out of all the acts, they were selected!

Felix and him screech wordlessly at each other for a while, a positive feedback loop of excitement and happiness while Minho stares at them, judging but desensitized to their antics by now—but really, he was just as excited as them.

It takes them at least ten minutes to calm down, and by then, Minho is already scrolling through his playlist of dance songs, and Hyunjin and Felix join him on the floor.

“I think we should do a Tiktok song, you know, connect with the audience and all?” Felix suggests, and Minho instantly glares at him. “Why do you hate Tiktok so much? Just because you’re a boomer doesn’t mean the rest of us are.” Felix whines before Minho can even speak.

“I don’t hate it, I just think it’s stupid and encouraging people to do stupid things for attention, and—” Hyunjin cuts in strategically before they escalate to a full-blown debate, smiling angelically, “How about we do a mash-up? Of songs like—”

“Of Tiktok songs!” Felix says energetically, and Minho glares at him pointedly. “No.”

They go on and on, and Hyunjin tunes them out eventually. He pulls out his laptop and starts typing on his coursework, and neither of them even notice.

◑

When Hyunjin was younger and he hears the unfamiliar melody in his head for the first time in his life, he cries and runs to his mother. His mother smiles at him, comforting and loving in the way that only mothers can be, and tells him it’s probably his soulmate singing to him. She tells him that everyone in the world has different ways of finding their soulmate—her one was seeing whatever the soulmate saw when he was dreaming—and his one was hearing what his soulmate was singing. Back then, Hyunjin remembers sighing, thinking it was lame, but as he grew older, slowly, Hyunjin grew to love it.

He’s never wanted anything more than to find his soulmate, to feel their presence near him and find someone that’s perfectly fated for him, but time has made him jaded, made him feel hopeless, made him feel like he was never going to fit perfectly into his current life.

The thing is, Hyunjin is just a normal college student, with average grades and average skills. When he was young, he’d hoped for a lot of things—to be a doctor, to be a lawyer, to be an idol, to make his parents proud, to become a millionaire—but all of those were kid dreams, and now that Hyunjin’s grown and fighting to stay in university, he realises how lost he is. Sometimes, he looks at the people around him and he thinks about how lucky they were to have found a purpose in life, to have found a soulmate. He thinks of Changbin with his passion and sheer talent for producing and Felix by his side, and his chest hurts.

Sometimes, he thinks of Seungmin, and just for a second, he lets himself dream of a future where he was beside him, just as radiantly beautiful as him, and he for those moments, he lets himself be truly happy. But Seungmin is a student turned budding professional singer-songwriter, and Hyunjin sometimes wonders how some people can shine so brightly while chasing their hopes and dreams, while others get left behind in the dust.

Simply put, Seungmin is the sun, brilliant and blinding all in one, while Hyunjin is one of the billions of stars around him, unremarkable to the dazzling light that is Seungmin.

So, as much as Hyunjin looks up to Seungmin, Hyunjin will never be like him. Hyunjin will never burn as brilliantly as he does, and it’s only right that he keeps chasing after him, keeps listening to his covers and music and hoping that one day, he’ll find what he’s been missing his whole life.

◑

The days roll by sluggishly, and Hyunjin continues his routine of studying himself asleep, waking up, going to classes, dancing, and repeat. Minho voices his concern once, over Hyunjin’s lack of personal or social life, but Hyunjin brushes him off with a smile, but anyone would be able to tell from a mile away that there’s something off about him, from the way his smiles often don’t reach the corners of his lips and the dull, tired gleam of his eyes.

He goes out with Changbin, Felix, Minho and Jisung sometimes, and no matter how genuinely nice and caring his friends are, he can’t feel but help like an outsider. Of course, they’re great to him—they never exclude him from anything, they laugh with him, but Hyunjin knows that no matter how close they are as friends, your soulmate will always come first. He doesn’t mind it. He knows that’s how it is, and he’s happy that his friends have found their soulmates.

Sometimes, he wonders if he’ll ever find his.

◑

“Hyunjin! Hyunjin, come here and watch our recording.” Felix plays the video on his phone, and both Minho and Hyunjin crowd around him. Their dance, choreographed mainly by Minho but with help from the other two, is perfectly in time with every beat, and all of them pull off each move and step gracefully, seemingly effortless, and the end product is better than any of them had expected.

But of course it was. They’d worked tirelessly over the past month for this entire thing to come to fruition, but there was still so much to do—there was the other half of the song to complete, their movements to polish up and perfect, and only with a little over one and a half month till the Spring Festival.

“Penny for your thoughts, Hyunjin?” Minho asks, tone almost gentle. He doesn’t snap at Hyunjin like he’s wont to do on normal days, and his eyes hold a gleam of perceptiveness. Hyunjin rarely harbours positive feelings towards Minho, afraid of being in debt to the other boy and him holding it over his head forever, but for once, he’s grateful to Minho.

“I think it’s great! Maybe Felix and I can choreograph the next part? It should be easy enough, since you’ve done the groundwork for the entire song.” Hyunjin offers, and Felix nods energetically. Minho props his hand on his chin, thinking, but after a few moments, he shrugs. “Sure, just be sure not to mess it up.”

Felix whoops and Hyunjin sighs. As much as he hates walking a whole kilometre from his dorms to the dance studio sometimes, he’s actually, honestly, really grateful for dance for taking up so much of his spare time and leaving him with little alone time to sulk in his melodramatic thoughts.

As he leaves the dance studio, earbuds plugged in, just as he presses play on Seungmin’s newest cover of _cardigan_ , another melody rings in his head, and Hyunjin pauses the music. Usually, it’s a song that he recognises, but the tune of this one is completely foreign to him. He’s not a music expert, but it doesn’t take one to recognise the soft guitar strumming on the background, and the longing, wistful sound of this one. He likes it, he decides.

◑

 _Again._ Seungmin deletes the recording, eyebrows furrowed in frustration. The tone sounded incredibly off, and his voice sounded annoyingly dry and emotionless. He couldn’t accept anything but absolute perfection for this piece. “Seungmin, that’s your what, twenty-sixth time recording?” Jisung asks from the couch, worry colouring his tone.

“I have to.” Seungmin mumbles.

“I think this is doing you more harm than help. At this rate, you’re going to burn out.” Jisung says, and Seungmin turns around to shoot a tired glare at him. Jisung raises his hands, shrugging. “I’m just saying. I’m worried for you.”

“This is my debut, Jisung.” Seungmin retorts with as much energy he can muster. “It has to be perfect.”

“I’m not saying it doesn’t! But I just think you’re being way too hard on yourself, you know? It’s not good to crash and burn just as your career is picking up.” Jisung says. And as much as Seungmin knows that he’s coming from a place of concern, he feels his head pound, and he knows he’s just a second away from snapping at his friend.

“Jisung, this is so important—” He stops abruptly as a familiar melody starts in his head, and although there are no lyrics or words, he knows exactly what that song is. It’s _cardigan_ , and the familiarity of the song sweeps over him like an ocean wave.

When he was recording _cardigan_ , just a week ago, he was at his best condition, and his cover came out really good. He had listened to it over and over again, picking out the moments in the song where he his voice would normally waver or crack, but his voice hadn’t shaken during the song, and for that, he was grateful. Times like those reminded him of the reason he even began his singing career at all, and he lets the memories wash over him, calming him down, and the throbbing in his head decreases.

Singing had just been a hobby back then, something he loved to do in the shower or when he was alone, something that grew into something a little bigger, and he started performing in front of small crowds, then in front of his school, then at little, small-scale busking events. His first open mic night was in his last year of high school, and he remembers the applause coming from all directions, and the thrill of performing a song well stays with him all the way till his next performance, and the next, and the next.

He’d been hesitant to turn his hobby into a career, but it wasn’t like he knew what else to do with his life, anyway. It turned out to be one of the best yet simultaneously the worst decision he’d made in his life, but he doesn’t give himself the opportunity to regret. He’d forged forward, the only way he knew how to go, and now he’s here in his tiny studio, on the verge of a breakdown over his own song.

“Seungmin?” Jisung murmurs cautiously, and Seungmin looks up. “Yeah?”

“Let’s try that again? I’ll help.” Jisung offers, a faint smile curving up on his lips.

Seungmin exhales heavily, eyes closing for a moment, and he remembers the times he’d cried in high school, unable to reach the perfect tone, and the times he’d smiled so brightly his cheeks hurt, basking in the applause and warm afterglow of a performance.  
  


“Okay,” He says softly, and the melody in his head peters out as he starts on the song once again.

◑

Seungmin meets Changbin at the first floor of his university’s music building, and they share a fist bump. Changbin is a godsend—he’s skilled in recording, rapping, providing backing track, and most importantly, he understands Seungmin. They’ve known each other for maybe half a year, collaborating on a couple of pieces, with Changbin being the main producer and Seungmin being his soundboard to bounce ideas off and of course, record the actual song.

“Hungry?” Changbin says, and Seungmin shrugs sheepishly. “I came straight from a lecture.” As if on cue, he yawns widely, hand splayed over his mouth. He rubs the sleep from his eyes, and straightens his back. “But I’m ready to record!” He adds on, just in case Changbin hits him to wake him up again. “I believe you.” Changbin snorts. “Got a sandwich from the school cafeteria.”

He pulls out a half-squashed ham and cheese sandwich from his pocket, and Seungmin wonders idly how the hell it fit in there, but he accepts it anyway. “Thanks.” He mumbles through a mouthful of slightly stale cheese—but at least it’s food.

“Did I tell you about my friend who’s like, obsessed with you?” Changbin says conversationally as he unlocks the recording studio, and Seungmin raises his brows. “No, you most definitely did not.”

“Oh, my bad. Anyway, I’m not even exaggerating. He listens almost exclusively to your covers every single day, and the thing is, I knew he was obsessed with some artist, but I didn’t figure it was you! I wanted so badly to tell him I record regularly with you, but I think it’ll be more fun to see his reaction when he actually sees you!” Changbin spins around in his chair, and Seungmin rolls his eyes.

“How altruistic of you.” Seungmin deadpans, and Changbin hits Seungmin a little too hard on the back. “Of course! You’re performing at the Spring Festival, right? He is too!”

Seungmin shrugs nonchalantly. “We’re recording the rest of the song today, right?”

“You’re so uninterested in everything I have to say,” Changbin pouts, and he continues running his mouth, but Seungmin isn’t really listening anymore. A shadow passes by the translucent glass of the recording studio’s door, and he shivers involuntarily, and the sudden, ridiculous desire to sprint after the person rises in him. _What the hell?_ He thinks, distracted, and tries to clear his mind. Maybe he hadn’t slept enough last night.

“…and the dance department practices in the same building as the music department! Maybe you’ll even see him when you leave.” Changbin says, smiling gleefully. “Hey, are you even listening?” He demands, and Seungmin nods. “Yeah, sure.”

◑

Hyunjin passes by the recording studio, and recognises this one as the one where Changbin regularly records. He’s brought Hyunjin inside a time or two, and they’d eaten cup ramyeon while his friend made him listen to his newest track and give feedback.

He considers popping his head in to say hi, reaching out to knock on the door, but then decides against it—what if Changbin was busy recording and scolded him for interrupting? He puts his hand down and shrugs, continuing down the hallway.

◑

Practice is fun, until it becomes three hours a day, five times a week—your schoolwork is bound to catch up with you. Hyunjin sits in a coffee shop just outside campus, laptop balanced precariously on his lap, glancing from the looming stack of papers in front of him to the blinking cursor on the empty document. He crosses and uncrosses his legs, takes a sip of his coffee, rearranges his notes into two stacks—and continues staring vacantly at his blank document.

“You know, a productive aesthetic doesn’t mean that you’re actually being productive.” Minho remarks, not even glancing up.

“Don’t bother me, I’m doing work.” Hyunjin says, shooting Minho the nastiest glare possible. Minho flips him off, and flips the last page of his notes shut.

The song playing overhead from the café speaker ends, and a new one starts. Hyunjin doesn’t take much notice of the song until the humming he’s become so closely acquainted to begins in his head. Long ago, he would have been distracted by it, but after years, his soulmate’s melody has become something of an intimate constant in his life.

He flips open to the first page of his notes, and begins typing on the document with renewed energy. If he can’t do it for himself—he’ll do it for his other half.

It’s only hours later, when he crashes in his dorm, as he drifts off to sleep, that his subconscious tells him that the melody in his head was coincidentally similar to the music playing in the café. He registers this faintly, but when he wakes up the next morning, it’s been long forgotten.

◑

The Spring Festival is right around the corner, but before that, is their end-year finals. Hyunjin drags himself to class on as little as two hours of sleep on most days. The only keeping him going is the desire to beat out the grades of his course mates, and his soulmate’s constant harmony in his head.

On the day of his Biochem finals—his last paper—he gets a grand total of thirty minutes of sleep the night before, and his soulmate’s melody is missing in his head. He’s grown almost too reliant on the music to fall asleep, and on days like this, it’s almost impossible to fall asleep at all. He hopes this means that his soulmate is getting more sleep than him—at least one of them should be okay.

“Man, you look like you're about to die.” His course mate, Jisung says, concern colouring his voice. Hyunjin drops his books on the table next to him, and flops down on the seat, head banging against the table.

“God, I wish I were.” He mutters.

The professor passes out the papers, and he struggles through the three-hour exam, moments away from falling asleep. Jisung pokes him subtly under the table every once in a while, and Hyunjin shoots him a grateful look once the paper ends.

“You’re performing at the Spring Festival, isn’t it?” Jisung says as they gather their stuff and head out. Hyunjin nods wordlessly, eyes dropping shut. At least now, the only thing left is the festival.

“Alright man, all the best! I’ll see you there. Get some sleep, okay?”

Hyunjin nods, and waves him off. The moment he gets back to the dorms, he crashes, the faint tune of his soulmate lulling him into a dreamless sleep.

◑

On the day of the Spring Festival, Hyunjin wakes up full of nervous energy. It’s six in the morning, but a melody begins in his head, the same one that his soulmate has been singing for the past month. He’s become intimately familiar with this tune, but he can’t seem to figure out what the song is, or where it’s from.

The three of them meet at a bakery not far from the festival venue, and Minho buys cream cheese bagels and lattes for three of them. “Thanks, can I submit an application for you to be my sugar daddy now?” Felix jokes, beaming brightly. His cheer seems to brighten the mood, and Hyunjin bites into the bagel, significantly less tired.

“If we perform well today, I don’t see why not.”

“Really? I want—”

“No, of course not. I don’t even have money to cover a fraction of my student debt, and you want me to pay for something more expensive than a bagel? Dream on, Felix.” Minho says, but his tone isn’t malicious. Felix pouts, and Hyunjin pats his shoulder reassuringly. “It’s okay, Lix, I’m sure you’ll find one soon.”

They keep up the light mood until they reach the venue, where the whirlwind of performers and stagehands rush about. There’s still hours until the performance, but Hyunjin’s not unfamiliar with the stress and panic that comes with a festival with as large of a scale as this.

Students their age hurry them into a makeshift room off the right of the stage, which is still in the process of setting up. They run through their choreography a few times, Minho nit-picking at their movements until lunch comes and they collapse onto the couch.

◑

Three rooms over, Seungmin paces around the area, and Changbin and Jisung watch him judgmentally from the old, ratty sofa. “I don’t think I can do this.”

“What do you mean you don’t think you can do this? You’ve been preparing for this since months ago!” Jisung protests. “Seungmin, you’ve performed countless times. The only difference this has that it’s your debut single, but then again, you’ve sang so many original songs! What’s up with you?”

Seungmin groans, and stops pacing, collapsing into the space next to Changbin. “I don’t know, today just feels different, okay? Like there’s something or someone I should know about right now, but I don’t and it’s really putting me off! And my soulmate hasn’t sung any of his shitty 2010s songs today, not even that same Justin Bieber song he keeps singing! Why did I choose the Spring Festival to perform my debut single? What if no one knows me?”

Jisung and Changbin exchange a look. “Look, I’m still going to judge him for that time you told us he wouldn’t stop humming Justin Bieber songs, but just forget your soulmate for a moment, okay? The performance about you today.”

He exhales shakily as Changbin drapes an arm around him, squeezing him comfortingly. “It’ll be fine.”

◑

Their performance finishes without any trouble, and the thousands of students in the crowd cheer loudly, and Hyunjin’s sweating through his favourite shirt, but he’s the happiest he’s been in months. They hurry off backstage, and Hyunjin tucks the fake flowers the audience had thrown on stage into his bag. “If we hurry we can see the final performance!” Felix rushes them.

The three of them slip into the section reserved for performers cordoned off at the front. It’s significantly less crowded, and Hyunjin lets himself breathe, raking a hand through his unruly hair. “Next up, our final performance!” The MC says, and the crowd waits with baited breath. “The only unreleased segment in our line-up…give it up for up-and-coming vocalist, the one and only Kim Seungmin!”

Hyunjin takes a second too long to process this information, and when he blinks, Seungmin has appeared on the temporary stage. The stage lights shine down on him, and the last rays of sunset illuminate him, and it’s almost like he’s surrounded by a halo. Minho says something and elbows him way too hard, but it’s like he’s dissociated from the moment.

Onstage, Seungmin moves the microphone closer to him, and bends down, smiling. “Hi, I’m Seungmin, and I’m going to perform my debut song—you’re the first ones to hear it.” The screams are deafeningly loud, and Hyunjin joins in, smiling so hard it feels like his face might split apart.

Seungmin laughs awkwardly, and Hyunjin swears his heart stops when the boy onstage smiles. The audience quietens almost immediately when the first strum of his guitar echoes around the area, and Seungmin opens his mouth.

_How can you miss someone you’ve never met?_

Hyunjin starts, as the melody in his head starts exactly at the same time.

_‘Cause I need you now and I don’t know you yet_

He stares at the beautiful boy on stage, and listens to the harmony in his head.

_But can you find me soon because I’m in my head_

The two tunes overlap perfectly, and Hyunjin’s frozen, standing still amongst the crowd of people.

_Yeah, I need you now but I don’t know you yet._

As the song goes on, it becomes clear to Hyunjin that the melody in his head that has been playing for weeks is exactly the one that Seungmin is singing right now, and he doesn’t know how to feel about it. Seungmin sings beautifully throughout the whole song, the ache in his voice resoundingly heart-breaking, and Hyunjin registers a few teardrops rolling down his cheeks.

_I need you now but I don’t know you yet._

The song ends with the last strum of his guitar, and it’s completely silent for a moment apart from Seungmin’s breathing, and then the whole area erupts into applause. Next to him, Felix is shouting, and Minho looks at him concernedly. “Are you okay?”

Hyunjin stares at Seungmin, eyes wide and heart pounding impossibly fast in his chest. Seungmin exits the stage with a bow, both hands clutching his guitar and his smile so genuine it hurts. “It’s Seungmin,” he whispers, and his world changes.

◑

“Changbin, you wouldn’t believe this, but I think my soulmate was in the audience.” Is the first thing Seungmin says when he enters the backstage room, and Changbin’s hands, reaching out to relieve Seungmin of the guitar, drops. “In the audience?”

Seungmin nods shakily, body trembling. He hadn’t messed up the performance, but he swears to himself he heard the same tune of his song in his head when he was performing, which just wouldn’t make sense unless his soulmate was in the audience and singing along softly. “I’m not even going to ask how you know and if you’re sure about it—but Seungmin, you do know that the crowd had maybe five thousand people? All from different schools?” Changbin says, and Seungmin exhales.

“I know. And I don’t know what to do about it.” Seungmin says hopelessly.

“It’ll be okay, Seungmin. We can find him.”

◑

Actually, they don’t find him. His soulmate comes to him.

Hyunjin DMs Seungmin on a throwaway account on Instagram, and Seungmin agrees to meet him in a crowded place—just in case he was a fifty-year old creep. Hyunjin reassures him that he isn’t a pedophile, and Seungmin leaves him on seen.

When they meet at the coffee shop just off campus, and there’s throngs of people in the shop, but Hyunjin finds Seungmin immediately. He’s standing at the back of the shop, eyes lost and confused. He approaches Seungmin slowly and carefully, hands trembling inside his pocket.

“Hey.” He whispers, and Seungmin looks up immediately. “Remember when I didn’t stop singing Justin Bieber’s _Baby_ for three years until a few months ago?”

Seungmin’s eyes go soft, and smiles the smallest, gentlest of smiles. “It’s really you.”

“It’s me.” Hyunjin says, and their worlds align.

◑

Hyunjin finds a letter tucked into his pillowcase exactly a year later, while Seungmin is at class. It smells intimately like him, and his delicate handwriting sprawls across the paper.

_Hyunjin,_

_You came into my life, sudden and all at once, like a shooting star, and you burned your way through all my layers like it was nothing. I know I’m not the easiest person to love, but you did it all the same—for that, I don’t think I’ll be ever to repay you. I can’t promise you very much, for the fragile side of love is the only side of love there is. But I promise that I will love you until I stop loving you, and when that happens, I’ll start again._

_Yours always,_

_Seungmin._

Hyunjin cries like a baby, sniffling and dialling Seungmin’s number into his phone. Seungmin picks up after half a ring. “What’s up, Jinnie?”

“Seungmin,” Hyunjin snuffles, rubbing a hand across his nose, letter held tightly in his other hand.

“Yeah?”

“I’ll never be able to properly tell you how much you really mean to me, but I love you so much.” Hyunjin says shakily, vision blurry. He remembers his life without Seungmin a year ago, and it seems so distant, almost like it never happened. He used to be barely even living--just surviving, but now, he lives every day in technicolour.

Seungmin rushes back to Hyunjin’s dorm almost immediately after, and they hold each other tightly, and Hyunjin can only think how lucky, how blessed he was for the universe to give him Seungmin.

◑

Simply put, Seungmin is the sun, brilliant and breath-taking and blinding all in one, while Hyunjin is one of the billions of stars around him, seemingly unremarkable to the dazzling light that is Seungmin.

Hyunjin is a star, nothing compared to Seungmin’s dazzling sun. But a sun is also a star, and Seungmin and Hyunjin are both alike and nothing like each other. Hyunjin realises, as he holds Seungmin’s hand in his, that he was never meant to outshine Seungmin, but rather, they were meant to complete each other, complement each other in the vast, expansive galaxy that was their life. And one day, when the stars and the sun have finally burnt out, they would have burnt while knowing that they had been loved and loved to the best of their ability.

**Author's Note:**

> to the admins: i'm so sorry this is so late haha my procrastination + promotional exams = i stayed up to write this js before the deadline! completely unchecked thru pls point out any mistakes~ thank you for reading!
> 
> poem by salma. d (tumblr), song is IDK you yet by Alexander 23!


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